


You stared at my lips and I could already feel your kiss

by nerdbeyondlimits



Series: The tale of Keith and Lance [4]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Almost Love Confession, Boys In Love, Idiots in Love, M/M, Oblivious Keith (Voltron), Oblivious Lance (Voltron), Pining, Pining Keith (Voltron), Pining Lance (Voltron), Valentine's Day, a nice little piece, some might say, the calm before the storm, this is really just the prequel to the next work
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-09
Updated: 2018-08-09
Packaged: 2019-06-24 07:57:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,773
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15626250
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nerdbeyondlimits/pseuds/nerdbeyondlimits
Summary: Lance drew in a deep breath. Now was the time. This was it, now was the time. He was going to bring up a hand to Keith's shoulder, tell him that he wanted to show him something and then they would walk to the star deck, where Lance would finally make his confession. His hand landed on Keith's shoulder. He was going to tell him, now, now, now...Alternatively:Allura and Coran wants to cheer up the paladins and accidentally choose to arrange Valentine's day.





	You stared at my lips and I could already feel your kiss

**Author's Note:**

> Hello again, y'all. So, this was based of the prompt that Allura and Coran arrange Valentine's day, which was sent in by the user Lavlis. It's really just a sort of nice prequel to the next installment, which will also be up soon. In the meantime, enjoy this:) 
> 
> Title from Cigarettes and Strawberries by Troye Sivan.

 

Hunk was sat in the common room when Allura first approached him about her idea. She had walked in on him reading about the system of planets they were in right now. Although he might not be seen as the strategy type at first, he always liked to be well prepared. And that included knowing what kinds of planets and people they might meet during their journey.

And if he happened to discover that a certain planet was the home of some interesting space ingredient, then there was nothing wrong in suggesting to Allura that they go visit that particular one, right?

Right now, he was thinking about asking her to stop by one in their vicinity, called Tergan. And that was when Allura walked in, as if she could somehow sense his question already.

“Oh, Allura! I was just about to go and ask you something-”

“Hunk! As a matter of fact, I was, too.” Hunk blinked.

“Really?” Allura hardly ever asked for the paladins advice at random. He wondered if he'd missed something. The princess smiled brightly.

“Yes! Coran and I was thinking, since the last period of time have been quite stressful for our team, that it would be a good time to arrange another one of your earth celebrations. All of you became really cheery when Keith announced we were holding a “Christmas”, especially Lance.”

Hunk grinned as he thought back to that day. Yes, Lance had been the happiest of them all, and Hunk doubted that it not only was because of his temporarily cured homesickness, but also because of the person behind it all. Those two had more tension than a bedspring.

“Yeah, Allura, that sounds like a great idea. What do you have in mind?” Allura's smile went from over-excited to mischievous in a second.

“Surprise.Me and Coran will take care of everything. There's a surprising amount of information on earth in our archives, did you know? However, the thing I want to ask you is, would you mind making some sweets for the occasion? From what Coran and I have found out, they're popular around this season.”

“Sure, princess. Any kind, or...?”

“Yes, yes, whatever you desire. And one more thing. Keep this from the rest of the paladins, okay? It was supposed to be a surprise for everyone, but Coran's cooking skills aren't exactly... trustworthy.”

“Of course, Allura. This is a really good idea. I'm sure it'll cheer everyone up!”

And so Hunk got on with creating a bunch of new recipes, collecting ingredients, and test-baking everything. It took up nearly all of his free-time, but it was fun and for a good cause, so he didn't mind, even if it was hard hiding all of his work from the other paladins.

 

* * *

 

And so the day finally came. Hunk had been told by Allura to place all of the sweets and baked goods on platters in the kitchen's pantry, and then go to bed. She and Coran would “prepare” the castle, whatever that now meant. He was lying patiently in his bed in the morning, not wanting to get up too early and interrupt their “preparing”.

In the room down the hall, Keith was already up. He'd made a habit of waking up early and train, and then eat breakfast with the rest of the team. During the first months of space-duty, he would've never taken into consideration to eat breakfast together. He didn't want to eat with them, and he figured they felt the same way around. However, the longer time they'd spent together, he had begun to realise that he actually enjoyed the company of his fellow team-mates. And even more recently, he discovered that they wanted him to join them, too.

And so he began eating, and generally spending more time, together with them. However, he still preferred those hours of solitude in the morning, when all he had to focus on was getting in good hits on the training bots.

As he was walking down the halls to get to the training deck today though, it appeared he wasn't the only one awake. Allura was standing at a corner, speaking into a mic. Keith could faintly here Coran's voice coming through the device.

“Allura?” he asked. She spun around, and looked at Keith with an expression he had never seen on her face before. It almost seemed like... guilt?

“Keith!” she squeaked. He took an instinctive step backwards as she flung herself towards him. Grabbing his shoulder, she pushed him into the training room, which was located mere feet from their position.

“Stay in there. Someone will come and get you when you can come out.” With those words, she sealed the doors and they locked themselves with a click. Keith's heart began to pick up speed. What the hell had just happened? Was this a lockdown? Was something threatening the castle? In that case, why wasn't the alarms sounding? Were the others awake?

Too many questions, and not nearly enough answers.

Pacing the deck, he forced himself to calm down. Allura knew what was going on. She locked him in here for a reason. And the princess is rarely wrong, so he simply had to trust her on this. That couldn't be too hard, could it?

 

* * *

 

Lance had woken up later than usual. Not wanting to miss breakfast, he dressed speedily and all but kicked his door open. A shout of pain sounded when the door swung up, and a moment later Lance spotted Pidge lying on the ground, grumbling. Her glasses had flown off to the side and she was rubbing her forehead.

“Shit! I'm so sorry, Pidge.” He offered to help her up, but she let go of his hand the second she was stood up.

“Yeah, yeah. Next time, try not to smash my face in. And let's go, Allura and Coran are up to something. They wouldn't let me into the kitchen, told me I should just go and get you.”

She had already begun walking, and Lance had to run to catch up with her. To have such short legs, she walked astonishingly fast. In an intersection, they met Hunk. He greeted them with huge smiles.

“Hey, Hunk. What's up?”

“Come on. I won't tell you anything. You'll have to see for yourself.” Pidge rolled her eyes, but Lance was positive she picked up her speed in order to get to the kitchen faster. He couldn't blame her. Who didn't like surprises?

 

* * *

 

Keith, apparently. He was sat crosslegged on the floor outside the closed doors to the kitchen. His hair was tied up in a messy ponytail and he was still dressed in loose training clothes. Lance couldn't help it when his heart did a little flip at the sight of him. Cursing mentally, he schooled his face into a neutral expression and cleared his throat.

“Why so grumpy?” Keith glared up at him and pushed a few stray bangs out of his face.

“Allura locked me into the training deck for three hours.”

“Jeez, man. Why'd she do that?”

“As if I'd know. She didn't tell me shit. Only sent Coran to get me ten minutes ago. He wouldn't even let me take a shower.”

“Ew”, Lance said out of reflex.

“Trust me, I know.” That surprised Lance. It was still programmed into his brain to rile up Keith to fights, but the latter rarely took the bait nowadays. He was quite grateful for that; he didn't actually _want_ to start fights, at least not anymore.

He didn't get to think much more on that, because right then Coran opened the doors with a flaring gesture. Keith had to scramble to the side, narrowly avoiding a hit to the back by the door.

“Christ, Coran. How many times do you two wanna give me heart-attack today?” Coran pulled him up to his feet.

“Oh, only a couple more, number four.” He was even more cheery than usual, and Hunk seemed to share his energy. Lance narrowed his eyes suspiciously and tried to look past the altean's shoulder and into the kitchen.

“What's going on, Coran?” The elder man only smiled and stepped aside.

Lance could only stare. From somewhere behind he could hear Hunk sputter surprisedly. Keith, who stood right behind his shoulder, took a step forward.

“What the holy hell...?” he said softly.

The kitchen was completely transformed. Pink and red banners was strung from the ceiling, trailing in large swoops. The lighting was soft, and something that almost sounded like jazz hummed in the background. Letters hung in the middle of the room, spelling out the words 'Valentine's day'. The table was stacked with Hunk's delicious food, but Lance doubted he knew the occasion for his sweets, because he was still having trouble with taking in all this, judging from the sounds.

Allura was stood in the middle of the room, smiling brightly, arms spread. Shiro was leaning against one of the counters, smiling a smile that was part awkward, part amused.

“Well? Do you like it?” Allura asked, and Lance had to remind himself of that this was the same person that gave him stern orders in battle. Keith was the first who composed himself.

“Uh, yeah, Allura. It's great...” His voice trailed off again as his eyes kept roaming the room, as if he couldn't quite take in all of this. Pidge piped up.

“Yeah, it's awesome, you guys. But, did you really research this holiday?” Lance noticed she had a hard time containing her laughter.

“Yes!” Coran boasted. “It's about showing love to your family.”

“Yes, it could definitely pass as that”, Shiro said, still smiling. “But what they mean is... Valentine's day is usually associated with romantic love. Meaning, partners, kisses, uh – those kinds of things.” Allura's eyes grew comically large.

“Oh my god. We didn't... Oh, my, this wasn't at all what...”

“It's okay, Allura.” Hunk was quick to say. “We'll celebrate anyway. Platonic love works just as well as romantic, right? And I for one consider everyone in here as my family. And a family loves each other, don't they?”

“Yeah, they do.” Lance said.

“Are you sure?” Coran asked worriedly. Keith opened his mouth, and a small part of Lance still believed he would say something insensitive, despite all of his growth. But he didn't – quite the opposite in fact.

“Coran, Allura. It's wonderful. It really is. Sometimes, platonic love is so much more powerful and important than romantic. And all this-” he gestured toward the room. “this is beautiful. Thank you.” Allura's smile wasn't quite as bright anymore, but neither was it sad or disappointed. Rather, it had a fond touch to it.

“Thank you, Keith.” Lance for one, still had trouble to process Keith's words. It still astonished him how deep the red paladin could be when he really wanted to. He shook his head slightly. This was certainly not the time to swoon over Keith. He clapped his hands together.

“Well, then! Breakfast?” A chorus of approving voices answered him. Hunk launched into a detailed description of the different foods, rambling about how hard it was to keep it all a secret while he made them. Keith had moved to Shiro's side, but was talking to Allura. It sounded like she was apologising to him for locking him in the training room.

“I'm so sorry! I panicked, I didn't want you to finish and go to the kitchen and see all of this!”

“It's cool, Allura” he chuckled.

 

* * *

 

After Allura had turned away to talk to Pidge, Keith focused on Shiro again. He was still smiling, watching the others gush over Hunk's food and complementing Allura and Coran on their decoration. But there was and edge to it, and a shade across his eyes.

“You miss him, don't you? Adam?” he asked softly. Shiro's shoulders heaved with his sigh.

“I do. I just... He doesn't know, doesn't know anything. But you know. There's no point in lingering on it.” Keith put a hesitant hand on the others shoulder.

“It's okay to feel sad. Isn't that what you always told me?”

“Yeah, but...”

“But nothing, Shiro. You're still human. And I would be a crappy brother if I didn't use your advise against you.” Shiro ruffled his hair.

“No, you're the best brother.”

“You, too. Adam would be so proud, you know that?” Shiro opened his mouth to answer, but someone else popped into their conversation.

“Who's Adam?” It was Lance, and Keith had actually really begun to like the guy, but for he love of god – could he have picked a more inconvenient moment to open his mouth? The rest of the room had somehow quieted down at the question, and they were all listening eagerly. Keith swore mentally.

“Look, guys-” he began, not wanting Shiro to be forced to tell them, but the older man put a hand on his arm, stopping him in his tracks.

“It's okay, Keith.”

“For real?”

“Yeah.” He turned to the team. “Adam... was my fiancée back on earth. We broke up before the Kerberos mission, though. But, yeah. We loved each other.” Keith was watching their team-members like a hawk. If any of them even _looked_ disapprovingly at Shiro, they would dearly regret it. But to his surprise (and relief) no one batted as much as an eye.

“I'm sorry that things ended between you two” Hunk said sincerely.

“It's the guy Matt talked about sometimes, right? The one who made you late to class all the time?” Shiro's cheeks instantly turned a faint pink, and Keith snickered, before he noticed that Lance had yet to say anything. He didn't look angry though, only a bit guilty.

“Sorry, if I like, pressured you to tell us. I didn't know...”

“It's okay, Lance. I've wanted to tell you for awhile now. Just didn't have the guts, I guess.”  
“But you knew?” Lance asked Keith.

“Knew? I had to endure those two idiots for years. Honestly, you all see Shiro as the responsible leader, but you don't know the things I do. The stuff I've seen...”

“Keith” Shiro said warningly, but not entirely serious. Keith only grinned.

“I've got to get some payback after all the things I had to endure. Telling them about it only seems fair.” Shiro groaned, but he was smiling.

“I'm going to regret this, aren't I?”

“Absolutely.”

 

* * *

 

A couple of hours and many anecdotes later, they had piled up in the common room to play a game of monsters and mana. Lance was sitting curled up in a chair, eyes distant, but directed toward Keith. The red paladin sat opposite of him, frowning slightly at Coran's explanation of something in the game. He glanced up and met Lance's eyes, who jumped startedly.

“What?” Keith asked.

“What do you mean, 'what?'”

“You were staring.”  
“Was not!”

“You totally was.”

“No! You're seeing things!”

“Yeah. Your eyes staring at me.”

“Lies.”  
“Sure they are,” he muttered and turned back to the game. Lance let out a quiet sigh and sagged in his chair.

How did he always manage to mess things up? He hadn't wanted to trigger Keith, he wasn't even aware that he'd been staring. He had just been looking at Keith, and realised that _wow, he has really long eyelashes. Dark and curved, like something out of a beauty magazine. They framed his grey eyes well, bringing out the slight purple accents in them. They reminded him of nebulas..._ And okay, yeah, he had totally been staring. Whoops.

Shaking his head slightly, he caught sight of Pidge looking at him. She had a knowing smirk on her face, and when he met her eyes, she winked. He sputtered, then looked around to see if anyone had noticed. Pidge wiggled her eyebrows suggestively, and yeah, that was enough.

Lance stood up abruptly and pulled up Pidge by her arm.

“I just remembered I need to ask you something.” He stomped out of the room, dragging her after him.

“Yeah? Does it have something to do with a certain pa-” Lance clamped a hand over her mouth, smiled sheepishly at the rest of the team and slammed the control button that closed the doors after them. He didn't stop walking until they reached the training deck, far out of hearing distance from the common room. There, he finally let go of her arm. She didn't seem bothered. In fact, she was still grinning devilishly.

“Okay, _what was that?_ ” he demanded.

“What, Lance? You losing yourself in Keith's eyes?”

“I don't know what you mean!”

“No? Why'd you drag me here then?” Lance groaned in frustration.

“Fine, fine! Just... I-”

“Love Keith?”

“No!” Pidge didn't say anything, but her eyebrows wiggled up and down again.

“I don't love him...” Lance continued. “I just, I care for him. He's my friend.”

“But you wanna be loo-vers?”

“No! Stop it, Pidge!” And then, quieter. “Is it that obvious that I like him?”

“Dude, you're both obvious, it's fine.” Lance was about to open his mouth and argue, when he realised what she had actually said.

“...Both?”

“Oh, my god, _yes_. I can't believe you two, you are so thick.”

“What do you mean, both of us?”

“He _likes_ you, Lance.” Lance blinked. Was she joking? But no, not even Pidge could be that cruel, could she?

“No he doesn't” he said hesitantly.

“Lance. Trust me. He may not have realised it yet, but he definitely feels it, all right? It's obvious.”

“Well, no, it's not! I didn't notice!”

“Because you're a pining idiot who doesn't believe what he sees because it's too good to be true.”

Well, Lance couldn't argue with that...

“Are you sure?” he asked.

“Lance, I'm not Cupid, but I damn well know that that boy likes you.” Lance sat back, trying those words out.

“He likes me. Keith likes me.” It felt good. It felt really, really good. And then the panic set in.

“Oh my god. Keith _likes_ me? Pidge, what do I do? I can't handle this!” She rolled here eyes.

“You're such a drama queen. Just tell him how you feel.”

“No!” he squeaked. “ I can't do that!”

“Would you rather pine for the rest of your life, knowing that he did in fact like you but you were too much of a wuss to tell him his feelings were reciprocated?”

“Piidge! It isn't that easy!”

“It could be. Listen, tonight, we'll watch a movie, all right? Make sure to sit next to him. I'll make sure to pick something sad. And then, when it's over, tell him you want to show him something. Take him to the star deck, you know, with the big windows? Yeah, and tell him there, under the stars.”

“But what if he freaks? What if _I_ freak?”

“Lance, you're freaking _now._ Just calm down, for fuck's sake. It'll be fine. I'm tired of watching you two idiots stare longingly at each other. Do this, for everyone's sake.” With that, she turned on her heels and walked out of the training deck. Lance stared after her. Was she serious about this? Had he been dreaming, or was she totally wing-manning him into getting together with Keith?

“Damn,” he muttered. “You sure got some hidden talents, gremlin...”

 

* * *

 

Right after dinner, Pidge announced that they were watching a movie in the common room. Everything was already set up, so they just had to _quote_ get their lazy asses to the couches _unquote_.

“What movie is it?” he'd asked. She'd grinned mischievously.

“Wait and see.” Keith rolled his eyes, but followed when she waved him and the rest along.

Allura, Shiro and Coran sat down in one of the couches, looking comically much like the grown-ups at a family gathering. Meanwhile, Hunk positioned himself in one of the armchairs while Keith claimed the other. Lance was just standing in the middle of the room, looking uncertain. Keith wondered what was the matter. There was a whole other couch to sit on. His attention diverted however, when Pidge poked him in the chest.

“Move. That's my seat.”

“Wha-”

“Move. I fixed the movie, I get whatever seat I want. Get up, you can sit on the couch.” Knowing there was no point in arguing with Pidge, he got up. Lance had sat down on the couch now, and Keith sagged into it next to him.

“Hi,” Lance said, voice breaking at the end. Keith frowned.

“You okay there?” Was it his imagination, or was Lance cheeks redder than usual?

“Yeah, yeah I'm fine. Just, uh, got something in my throat. Gone now.”

“Oo-kay.”

 

* * *

 

Lance had to suppress a groan. _Smooth, Lance. Real smooth._ He turned his head away from Keith, focusing on the big screen Pidge had set up. She clicked on some button now, and Cannonball by The Breeders started playing as the screen lit up. Lance couldn't believe this. Pidge was a little shit.

Hunk turned to her.

“Wait... Is this A walk to remember?”

“Yup.”

“But that's super sad! I didn't know you liked these kind of movies!” Pidge glanced at Lance and grinned.

“I thought it fitted the occasion.” Lance had to fight the physical urge to flip her the finger right there and then. Keith was frowning.

“I don't get it. What movie is it? Why is it so sad?”

“Oh boy. You're in for a ride, buddy,” Hunk told him.

 

* * *

 

“ _Love is like the wind. You can't see it, but you can feel it._ ”

Hunk had a hard time holding back tears by the end of the movie. Coran had already given up on trying to suppress them, and was just flat-out sobbing. Shiro and Allura was a bit more composed, but Lance thought he saw a gleam in their eyes that wasn't usually there. 

And Keith. Keith wasn't crying, but his mouth was pressed into a thin line and he blinked hard a couple of times.

Lance drew in a deep breath. Now was the time. This was it, now was the time. He was going to bring up a hand to Keith's shoulder, tell him that he wanted to show him something and then they would walk to the star deck, where Lance would finally make his confession. His hand landed on Keith's shoulder. He was going to tell him, now, now, now...

“Keith-”

Shrill alarms blared through the castle and the lights flashed in red.

“There's a distress beacon! Come on, paladins, to your lions!” Allura shouted. Keith turned to Lance.

“Sorry, what? Never mind, tell me after, yeah?” Lance deflated a little.

“Yeah. I'll tell you after.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Isn't this a nice little fic? Yeah...  
> The calm before the storm, some might say.   
> :))
> 
>  
> 
> Leave a comment and some kudos to feed my dying soul
> 
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
